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20th July 2009 Archive

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  • IBM upgrades DS series by the numbers

    Hardware refresh for IBM's flagship storage product

    References to a mysterious IBM storage array are popping up across the web. Is this the hardware refresh of IBM's flagship DS8000 storage array line? The first reference we spotted was from Freddie Sanchez, a firmware engineering guy at IBM in Arizona. His LinkedIn entry reads: "I develop and maintain embedded software for the …

    Storage 20 Jul 07:02

  • Twitter docs hack exploits stupidity vuln

    Fail and You Google Apps and the mental midgets

    Over a month ago, a hacker gained access to Twitter's internal documents and thereby introduced the unprofitable Web 2.0 darling to the blunt end of internet justice. Hacker Croll - the still anonymous Frenchman who has claimed responsibility for the attack - cracked the personal e-mail account of a Twitter administrator. In its …

    Applications 20 Jul 07:14

  • Intel to deliver Postville in August

    Stamping out a 320GB 34nm SSD

    Details of Intel's biggest solid-state drive so far, a 320GB part built on its 34nm process, are popping up across the web. The current X18-M and X25-M models come in 80GB and 160GB capacities, use 2bits per cell multi-level cell (MLC) technology and are built on a 50nm process. The single-level cell (SLC - one bit per cell) …

    Storage 20 Jul 07:55

  • Wyplay Wyplayer

    Review Media player with PVR pretensions

    Wyplay is a French company that’s aimed its Wyplayer directly at users of the Gallic equivalent of Freeview – TNT HD – but who also require media player functionality. It is, in essence, a high definition Personal Video Recorder combined with a media streamer, in a single box. It may offer everything the average Frenchman needs …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 08:02

  • US space superloo claps out

    13 astronauts share Russian ISS dunny

    NASA's deluxe International Space Station toilet clapped out yesterday, meaning the 13 astronauts currently aboard the orbiting outpost will temporarily have to share the Russian "Waste Management System" and space shuttle Endeavour's facilities. The agency explains that Mike Barratt and Frank De Winne will today be "replacing …

    Space 20 Jul 08:46

  • Cisco slices HQ staff

    It was always part of the plan

    Cisco is cutting 700 jobs from its headquarters in San Jose, as part of the 2,000 which were announced in February. The company described the cuts as a limited restructuring and said: "We are doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring." The networking giant announced …

    Financial News 20 Jul 09:26

  • Data Domain doubles up dedupe speed

    Four socket DD880 is a 'Ferrari of a dedupe engine'

    Data Domain has added a 4-socket quad-core processor set-up and produced a top-end DD880 box with double the performance of its old range-topper, reminding everybody why EMC and NetApp fought so hard to get it. The DD880 has twice the performance of the previous top-of-the-range DD690 and achieves it by having a 4-socket quad- …

    Storage 20 Jul 09:31

  • Mozilla downplays risk from unpatched flaw

    Nothing to exploit here. Please move along

    There are conflicting reports as to whether a flaw in a new version of Firefox is exploitable or not. Firefox 3.5.1, published only last week in rapid response to an unpatched vulnerability discovered days earlier, is itself vulnerable to a bug involving the handling of very long Unicode strings. Reports by security …

    Enterprise Security 20 Jul 09:48

  • Toshiba to back Blu-ray Disc with player launch?

    HD DVD all but forgotten

    Toshiba may be about to put the past behind it, look to the future and launch a Blu-ray Disc player. That's what a report by Japanese-language site Yomiuri claims. The machine will be out - in Japan, presumably - by the end of the year. Toshiba was the leading proponent of Blu-ray's arch-rival, HD DVD. In February 2008, the …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 09:56

  • DRAM patent holder sues Big Blue

    Mosaid gets mad over licensing stubbornness

    Canadian embedded DRAM patent-holder Mosaid is suing IBM for patent infringement. Mosaid, founded in 1975 and based in Ottawa, calls itself one of the world’s leading intellectual property companies, and licenses patented IP in the areas of semiconductors, wired and wireless communications systems. It counts many of the world' …

    Channel Register 20 Jul 10:01

  • Apollo 11 vets urge Mars mission

    Forget the Moon, say Aldrin and Collins

    Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins have urged NASA to scrub its lunar ambitions and set its sights on Mars, the BBC reports. Speaking at an Apollo 11 reunion of the pair and Neil Armstrong at Washington DC's National Air and Space Museum, marking the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing, Collins said: "I worry that the …

    Space 20 Jul 10:08

  • AMD's first DirectX 11 GPU 'not out until November'

    Not huge demand for it even then?

    AMD's first DirectX 11 graphics chip won't appear in products you can buy before November, despite being demoed more than a month ago. AMD first showed off its DX11 GPU - codenamed 'RV870' - at the Computex show in Taipei, Taiwan early in June. To be fair, AMD didn't say when the ATI-branded GPU would go on sale beyond …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 10:15

  • BT to flog Microsoft cloud, unified comms services

    Is that a pie in the sky?

    BT has agreed to punt Microsoft’s online services to its business customers. The UK telecoms giant confirmed it had inked a deal with Redmond today. Financial details of the agreement were kept secret. BT said it would resell Microsoft’s Dedicated Business Productivity Online Suite to its corporate clients. The company plans …

    Channel Register 20 Jul 10:35

  • Belkin expunges expensive wireless HDMI gadget

    FlyWire = FailWire?

    Belkin has canned its long-awaited, much-delayed wireless HDMI kit, FlyWire. FlyWire demoed at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in January 2008. More than 18 months on and inspired by an early decision to double the product's proposed price, Belkin late last week said: "We will no longer be introducing FlyWire to the …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 10:42

  • It shouldn't happen to a vetting database

    MPs can't get themselves arrested vetted

    Politicians and civil servants are at loggerheads over who should be added to the Government’s shiny new vetting database. If they can’t get their act together before the scheme goes live later this year, the entire system could be a laughing stock even before it is launched to the public. Problems arose last week when a …

    Government 20 Jul 11:22

  • Revenue not scared of carbon trading fraud

    Carousel fraudsters stick with chips, for now

    Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is not seeing a stampede of fraudsters hitting carbon trading as a new way to commit carousel fraud, or missing trader intra-community fraud. Classic MTIC fraud involves buying and apparently importing goods from another EC country, so no VAT is charged. These are then sold on, with VAT added …

    Channel Register 20 Jul 11:25

  • DfT shared service reverted to manual controls

    Move over and let me drive

    The Department for Transport had to resort to manual processing to cope with problems at its shared services centre. The department's annual report for 2008-09 says that problems with financial control and management reporting functions were found during the first year that the shared service platform was introduced. A …

    Government 20 Jul 11:49

  • Companies line up for funding to break China's Firewall

    Falun Gong versus the Great Firewall

    An organisation with links to Falun Gong is hoping to benefit from US government spending on breaking China's Great Firewall. Last year Congress approved $15m in State Department funds to help “the advancement of information freedom in closed societies, including the Middle East and Asia”. This was generally interpreted as …

    Government 20 Jul 12:11

  • Apple MacBook Pro 13in June 2009 release

    Review Apple finally notices there's a recession

    Apple has always kept a clear dividing line between consumer products for home and education users, and more expensive professional models offering higher performance and additional features. And, until quite recently, its laptop range had stuck rigidly to that formula. Apple's MacBook Pro 13in However, Apple muddied the …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 12:28

  • Kingston's thumb drive is tiny Tardis

    256GB Data Traveller 300

    You really won't want to lose Kingston's Data Traveller 300 256GB thumb drive, the highest-capacity thumb drive available. There could be a near-universe of files, pictures and music inside and yet it can be as easily mislaid as any 2-gig thumb drive. This tiny Tardis holds as much data as some hard drives and can be used as …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 12:30

  • Anti-Sec spoof threatens s'kiddie mayhem

    Interweb will be punked rather than pwned

    Pranksters have latched onto Anti-Sec's quixotic crusade against full disclosure of security vulnerabilities by impersonating the group in a threat to unleash an OpenSSH exploit. The impersonators threatened to release details of an unpatched vulnerability in OpenSSH, followed by worm code hours later. A post on a full …

    Crime 20 Jul 12:42

  • Nissan to build e-car batteries in Blighty

    Leccy Tech Coup for Sunderland plant

    Nissan is to start making lithium-ion batteries for its leccy cars in the UK. But today's announcement stopped short of guaranteeing that Nissan will start building e-cars here too. In a statement, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Nissan's investment in a new battery plant and its hope to start producing electric vehicles …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 12:56

  • UK.gov eavesdroppers frustrated by red tape

    Call for middle management cull at GCHQ

    Chiefs at GCHQ, the government's electronic eavesdropping station in Cheltenham, have been told to cut bureaucracy, which it's feared may hamper the agency's ability to cope with an increased demand for intelligence and security testing. "The department has developed a proliferation of strategies, which serves to dilute its …

    Government 20 Jul 12:57

  • Bloggers spin product-less Nokia trademarks

    Speculation attempts to fill information void

    Nokia watchers are feverishly poring over Finland's trademark database for clues to the phone giant's future products after 'Money', 'Booklet', 'C series' and 'X series' turned up late last week. Of course, all they can say is that Nokia has applied for these trademarks - there's no guarantee they'll ever be used for shipping …

    Reg Hardware 20 Jul 13:21

  • EMC dishes what it will do with Data Domain

    Basis of backup, recovery and archive division

    Data Domain, which has today announced its top-end DD880 product, will become the foundation of a new backup, recovery and archive division inside EMC. EMC has announced it now controls Data Domain's destiny. Data Domain stockholders have tendered approximately 78.2 per cent of the outstanding Data Domain shares (not including …

    Storage 20 Jul 13:53

  • Medical cannabis app rolls out on iPhone

    Now you're toking

    The continuing insanity of US cannabis law comes to the iPhone, with an application that will find the nearest dispenser of medicinal cannabis, along with a handy database of attorneys in case you get pulled carrying. The application, which is already in the iTunes store, costs $3 and searches on the basis of a city or ZIP …

    Bootnotes 20 Jul 14:22

  • Metallica sticksman gloats over Napster downfall

    Happy as a 'greedy rock pig' in mud

    Metallica drummer and pro-copyright mouthpiece Lars Ulrich is "proud" he helped wipe out internet file-sharing site Napster. Speaking to Kerrang! magazine, Ulrich added he wasn't wallowing in "glory" following his band's crucial role in the downfall of Napster. Metallica infamously took legal action against the website in …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 14:35

  • Government pig flu spotter pulls a sickie

    Online system down since Sunday

    The government's online symptom checker for swine flu symptoms has been unavailable all day, and it has emerged that government plans for a national flu hotline have been delayed. Documents obtained by the Liberal Democrats reveal that FluLine was delayed by Treasury footdragging. The Treasury was expected to sign off the …

    Government 20 Jul 14:39

  • German bomber crashes on Moon Google Earth

    Alleged Ju88 in reservoir eludes Reg dragnet, however

    Scotland's Daily Record is running an interesting piece on the apparent remains of a crashed WWII German bomber which ended its days over Greenock in 1941, and which has now surfaced on Google Earth. The Junkers 88 was allegedly downed by anti-aircraft fire during the "Greenock Blitz" in May of that year, a two-night assault …

    Bootnotes 20 Jul 14:45

  • Dell partner CIT dodges bankruptcy

    Replaced by Red Hat in the S&P 500 just the same

    Financial services giant CIT Group, which dabbled just a bit too much in subprime mortgages, is on the verge of getting some $3bn in emergency financing from its bondholders in order to avert bankruptcy, according to Reuters. There are two IT angles to this story. Firstly, CIT is a long-time partner of PC and server maker Dell …

    Channel Register 20 Jul 15:20

  • IT jobs site urges password resets after hack attack

    Contact details compromised

    US-based online IT employment agency Elance is warning users to change their passwords after it fell victim to hackers. In a notice posted on Friday, Elance warned that contact information (name, email address, telephone number, city location and Elance login information) was exposed after unidentified hackers broke into its …

    Channel Register 20 Jul 15:26

  • Palm gets its Mojo working

    Now all we need is a Pre or two

    Palm has opened access to its WebOS development kit, Mojo, allowing anyone to develop Pre applications - though no one outside the USA has a Pre as yet. Not that anyone will be able to distribute developed apps as yet: the Palm Application Catalogue won't be open for business for a few months yet. Until then Pre users are …

    Developer 20 Jul 15:39

  • Microsoft gets SaaSy with SP2 for Apple-friendly Office

    Gimme Big Mac, fries to go...

    Microsoft released the second service pack update to Office 2008 for Apple's Mac platform today. The software giant said SP2 would improve speed and stability issues in Office for Mac users, who can also expect to see new features added that connect the suite to Microsoft's SharePoint servers and Office Live workspaces. "With …

    Applications 20 Jul 15:41

  • Google lights up Moon on Apollo 11 anniversary

    One small step for Google Earth

    Google has switched on the Moon in Google Earth to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. The newly included Moonscape for Google Earth features 3D terrain of the lunar surface for users to fly around and explore like they already can with Mars and Earth. Users can also switch the scenery into …

    Space 20 Jul 18:02

  • Microsoft embraces Linux 'cancer' to sell Windows servers

    Great virtualization-driver giveaway

    Microsoft is embracing 'cancer' to help ensure Windows survives server-room consolidation. The company has released 20,000 lines of Windows kernel code under version two of the GPL. Microsoft called the license it once hated "the community's preferred license". How things have changed. Back in 2001, Microsoft's chief research …

    Virtualization 20 Jul 18:03

  • US tactical bot has no taste for humans

    Biomass-fed EATR 'strictly vegetarian'

    Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. has denied suggestions that its biomass-fuelled engine, installed in the the sinister, DARPA-funded "Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot" (or EATR) will be powered by humans, either dead or alive. EATR, manufactured by Robotic Technology Inc (RTI), is described as "an autonomous robotic …

    Rise of the Machines 20 Jul 18:04

  • Digital Spy fights second malware attack

    Updated Oops we did it again

    Celebrity and TV gossip website Digital Spy has confirmed reports that its subscribers outside the UK have been exposed to malware. The latest reported outbreak follows an earlier malware infestation, later traced to tainted banner ads, that hit the site only six weeks ago. Digital Spy is a high-traffic website frequented by …

    Malware 20 Jul 19:28

  • Researcher raids browser history for webmail login tokens

    Point, click, and hijack

    In a disclosure that has implications for the security of e-commerce and Web 2.0 sites everywhere, a researcher has perfected a technique for stealing unique identifiers used to prevent unauthorized access to email accounts and other private resources. Websites typically append a random sequence of characters to URLs after a …

    Security 20 Jul 20:31

  • Intel slashes prices on desktop, server chips

    Up to 19 per cent

    Chip maker Intel has cut prices between 11 and 19 percent on a host of desktop and entry server processors. The company rarely explains its quarterly price tweaks - which tend to happen in the wake of its posting of financial results for the prior quarter - and this time around was no different. But the nature of the price …

    PCs & Chips 20 Jul 20:51

  • EU calls hearing over Google 'orphan' treatment

    US book scan plan trips rest of world

    As the US Department of Justice continues its investigation into Google's $125m book-scanning settlement with American authors and publishers, the EU has cranked up its own review of the controversial pact. On September 7, Bloomberg reports, the European Commission will hold a hearing where interested parties can comment on …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 20:52

  • Music industry busts jukebox piracy scheme

    Is your Sock Hop safe?

    Just because the recording industry keeps a close eye on internet file-sharing these days doesn't mean you can evade the long arm of justice, antiquated mediums of entertainment! Indeed, Spanish police in the western province of Extremadura have recently conducted a major sting against bars selling crooked music videos on …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 21:03

  • Japanese nuke lab erects 200 teraflop super

    Heads for 'Venus'

    Server maker Fujitsu has announced that the Japan Atomic Energy Agency will be building a 200 teraflops cluster based on Intel's 'Nehalem EP' Xeon 5500 processors and Fujitsu's blade form factor. JAEA is also buying two Sparc-based clusters, foundations for even larger petaflops-scale supers that Fujitsu plans to build using its …

    HPC 20 Jul 23:05

  • US grants $47m for power grid smarts

    'Hurry up' money

    US energy officials are handing out $47m of the county's economic stimulus package to speed up work on several "smart grid" technology test sites. The money comes out of a $3.9bn pool of grants aimed at modernizing the electrical grid. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the money will go towards eight smart grid …

    Government 20 Jul 23:14

  • Mac OS X gets rootkit coding manual

    Filling the void

    Over the past decade, the world has seen advances in rootkits running on Windows and Unix operating systems that few would have thought possible. Now, it's Mac OS X's turn, as a security researcher plans to share a variety of techniques for developing the ultra-stealthy programs for the Apple platform. At a talk titled …

    Security 20 Jul 23:35